Sunday, November 09, 2008

Dirty Business of Tire Changing

Ever swallow a mouthful of soot? Danny Kincaid did last month at Martinsville and will again several times at Phoenix. And trust him, it’s not an enjoyable experience.

“I’m going to be picking black, dusty boogers out of my nose for the next week,” Kincaid, the No. 84’s front tire changer, predicted at Martinsville.

Changing tires is a dirty business, especially at shorter, flat tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit. Martinsville, the smallest oval with long straights and tight corners, abuses brakes to the point when a tire comes off during a stop, a thick, black cloud of brake dust escapes into the face of a tire changer. Along with everything else a dirty racing surface has to offer.

“Right when you sit down and fire your gun, that’s when you get the worst of it … right on the first lug nut,” said Chad Avrit (pictured above), Kincaid’s counterpart on the rear. “It’s an immediate puff. Then it’s the dust. It starts swirling in your face. You’ll have that huge cloud at first, then it kind of turns into a mist.”

Needless to say, a shower is priority No. 1 when the pit crews touch down late that night in North Carolina.

“Immediately,” Avrit said. “You definitely want to shower immediately. You’re ready to get out of that firesuit and into some fresh clothes.”

Today at Phoenix: Brian Vickers and Scott Speed have their work cut out for them. Vickers, who has one top five and three top 15s in eight starts, rolls off 36th. Speed starts right behind in 38th.

Friday at Phoenix: Speed posted another impressive run in the Craftsman Truck Series, finishing 14th in his first time at Phoenix under race conditions. He hasn’t finished outside the top 15 in the past five truck races.

19 Comments:

I guess TRB did not figure the math right. There is a reason they kept AJ on board for so long before letting him go. AJ was kept in at TRB and moving forward in the points until they thought they could be insured of holding onto the top 35 into next year.

But it looks like they underestimated how hard of a time Scott would have.

Next year we will get to see what Scott is made of...as he may be dealing with the same problems AJ dealt with. Start out of the top 35....have to qualify on speed....miss even one race and you are struggling to catch up the rest of the year.

One factor that will help will be economic factors...there may be a lot fewer entries next year.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!! Boys in Austria made a good call! You can't even blame the wreck on Speed dropping out of the top 35, he ran in the back all day!! Hopefully BV and the 83 guys can end the year on a good note and get ready for a Chase run in 2009!

...and these people still don't get it apparently. Being in the top 35 isn't going to mean anything after this year. With the economy the way it is, they're barely going to have enough teams show up week in and week out to fill up the field. Daytona might be the only wildcard in the bunch as I'd say they'll have plenty of one race deals for teams not planning on running the full schedule. But whatever the case may be, Scott will learn how to drive these cars in time. AJ didn't learn overnight and he's still no seasoned vet now. Would he be doing better in the 84 right now?... maybe, maybe not. That team has struggled as of late. It isn't all Scott's fault.

You guys are only looking at the short term picture. Red Bull was looking at the long term. They wanted to invest in Scott for his entire csreer. With AJ they only wanted a few years. So what if AJ is doing well in a few races. Lets compare the two drivers in five years when they've both been running in the same series for years. Then we'll see if Red Bull made the right decision or not. You cant base that off of a few races. Get real people

A.J. is not a Red Bull driver anymore and won't be next year either so take your comments to the A.J. forum. Let's talk about BV who IS a Red Bull driver and how he got a raw deal yesterday. Good thing he didnt get hurt.

Martin in the #84 at Homestead: Monday [11-10-2008] on “SIRIUS Speedway” on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, host Dave Moody is reporting that Mark Martin will drive the #84 Red Bull Toyota this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, replacing Scott Speed. Host, Dave Moody: “Since taking over for the released AJ Allmendinger four races ago, Speed has recorded an average finish of 34.2, including a 40th yesterday in Phoenix. The team has fallen out of the Top-35 in owners’ points now. They now trail the Michael Waltrip Motorsports #47 team by 16 points with one race to go in the battle for that all important 35th position in the owner standings. An official announcement is expected from the team later this afternoon. Mark Martin, of course, enjoys a long relationship with Red Bull Racing general manager Jay Frye, for whom he drove at the former MB3 and Ginn Racing teams. He ran his final scheduled event for Dale Earnhardt, Inc. yesterday in Phoenix. He, of course, will move to Hendrick Motorsports full time in 2009. His arrangement with Red Bull Racing is, we are told, for one race only and will have no impact on the team's long term plans for Scott Speed.(SIRIUS XM Radio PR)(11-10-2008)